Smooth takeoff for ESL buyers

Sales top $50,000 in first month under aerospace company’s new ownership

ESL Technology Inc.’s CEO Mike Hollihan, back, watches as Lawrence Tighe checks out a jet engine mount in the lab near an MTS compression and tensile tester at company’s Woodside facility on Tuesday. The machine is one of two in North America. (TIM KROCHAK/Staff)

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The new owners of ESL Technology Inc. in Dartmouth anticipate growth as the aerospace and defence industries evolve in Nova Scotia.

“With some software and equipment investments, we believe we can increase sales 25 per cent per year moving forward,” CEO Mike Hollihan said Wednesday.

Hollihan and four other investors bought ESL Technology’s test lab, a 5,000-square-foot materials facility on Research Drive, at the beginning of August and had a good first month.

ESL Technology has three technical people on the testing side, and five on the consulting side. More jobs will come as the business grows, Hollihan said.

There is a demand in the region for an independent materials testing laboratory in Atlantic Canada, he said.

There are also some strong indicators of market growth in the near future.

The Nova Scotia Research Foundation, known today as Innovacorp, founded ESL Technology in 1989.

Hollihan said there was a need at that time for a regional testing facility to encourage growth in the aerospace and defence industries.

The facility transferred to the private sector in 2004 when Composites Atlantic of Lunenburg acquired it.

Composites Atlantic, jointly owned by EADS Sogerma of Paris and the Nova Scotia government, upgraded the testing facility and eventually decided to opt out of the testing sector for business reasons.

“There is a preference in the aerospace and defence industries for independently owned and operated testing facilities,” Hollihan said.

Although the laboratory focused originally on ultralight composite materials for the aerospace industry, the new owners plan to reformat operations to take advantage of emerging markets on the defence industry side.

“All components used in manufacturing in the aerospace and defence industry require extensive testing,” Hollihan said.

ESL Technology is getting an official unveiling under its new ownership at the three-day Canadian Defence Security and Aerospace Exhibition Atlantic event at the Cunard Centre and Pier 21 that opened Wednesday.